AM2 Reconfirms Virtua Fighter 5

AM2's Makoto Osaki reconfirms that VF5 is on its way, as well as giving some fresh details on VF: Cyber Generation and the likelihood of Chihiro-Xbox conversions.

Sega's Makoto Osaki from the firm's legendary AM2 studio has revealed that VF5 is still in development, after Yu Suzuki told us in person last year that the anticipated sequel is in the planning stages.

In an impressive GameSpy interview, the AM2 development boss, who reports directly to the studio president Hiroshi Kataoka (Yu Suzuki's replacement), emphasised: "The VF series, as you know, will definitely continue, and VF5 IS coming. It will be what fans expect - a one-on-one fighting game."

This is very good news for two reasons:

1. The Virtua Fighter series is the pinnacle of fighting game technical achievement, advancing the genre with every instalment and revitalising popularity in the franchise, and in Japanese arcades, each time.
2. It means that Sega is still working on exciting medium- and long-term projects, contrary to a lot of speculation surrounding Sammy's probable and imminent hostile takeover.

Osaki has been central to the development of the VF series since VF2.

Continuing on the subject of the VF brand, Osaki-san said: "We do not intend for VF: Cyber Generation to be a 'replacement' for the original VF series. It is something that will coexist beside the original series and hopefully introduce more people to it."

"The VF series is, first and foremost, a technical fighting game. It has a lot of appeal to older, experienced players... We wanted to find a way to introduce the franchise to a younger mindset... besides Sonic, Sega doesn't have a lot of franchises with that sort of youth appeal."

On the hot subject of rumoured Chihiro-to-console conversions such as OutRun 2 Osaki was vague as expected: "Basically, we've been going with the Chihiro hardware because it's the most powerful out there, even more so than the Naomi 2... Xbox is doing very well in the West. A port from Chihiro to the Xbox probably wouldn't be too difficult. But we'd need to get input from the Western Sega branches (SoE, SoA) first before we make any decisions."

Time to start bombarding SoA and SoE with emails about how much you want OutRun 2 then - or simply point them to the numerous petitions out there. Make no mistake Sega - it's not just obsessed fans that will buy OutRun 2 on Xbox - it's the WHOLE WORLD!

Hopefully we'll be seeing some new Sega titles at this year's E3, including VF:CG, and if we're lucky, Virtua Fighter 5.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com